Winter Storm Stories
by EmeraldGlee
Summary: It was a stormy winter day and the children were bored. The lack of electricity certainly didn't help. With nothing better to do, the photo album was opened, and a trip down memory lane was scheduled. Based on weekly prompts. Drabbles and oneshots.


**Disclaimer: **EmeraldGlee does not own Harvest Moon and the characters involved. It is owned by Marvelous Interactive Inc. and Natsume. This is just a fan made work for fun. This disclaimer applies to all chapters.

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**Chapter Title: **01 - Beginning  
**Chapter Length:** 1,472  
**First Published:** 03 February 2014

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_26 Winter XX39, 7:30 am, Nature Farm, Mineral Town_

Claire stared at the door to her son's room. It had been nine years since she and her brother Jack had come to Mineral Town to take care of their dead grandfather's farm. Many things had happened during their stay - some happy, some sad, but all of them memorable to the rancher.

Letting out a small smile remembering her wedding day, she gently opened the room. Even after all these years, she still couldn't fathom how she was already married and a mother to boot! She absently rubbed at her slowly growing belly as she quietly went inside her son's room. Another child was on the way too. Claire was a really happy woman.

Although it was dark in the room because of the raging storm outside, she could still clearly see her son's small form snuggled in bed. Smiling sweetly at the cute scene for a moment, Claire couldn't help but feel the happiness blossom. These simple mornings were a result of all the hard work she and her brother went through. Shaking her head out of her musings, she sat on the edge of the bed and gently nudged her son.

"Mark, dear, it's time to wake up." A small tuff of blonde hair popped out from under the covers.

"Five more minutes, mom…" The boy on the bed turned around to show a face resembling his mother so much. There was no mistaking that he was Claire's son.

"I can't allow that." Claire shook him even more.

"But…mom…there's a storm outside…there's no work to do…let me sleep in…"

"I can't have my son be lazy. Get up…or else."

"Mmammma...mmm." After turning around again, Mark snuggled deeper into his blankets.

"So this is how you want it, huh?" she said with a mischievous glint in her eyes. Mark never stood a chance.

"HAHAHAHAHA! MOM! STOP IT! NOO! HAHAHA!" The poor boy was subjected to the strongest tickle attack his mother ever gave.

"I won't stop until you get up!" If possible, her tickle attack was getting stronger.

"NOO! HAHAHA! I'M UP! I'M UP!" said Mark as he waved his arms around.

"Good. Now get up, get ready, fix your bed, and come down to the dining room for breakfast. Your uncle and I made breakfast today."

Getting out of the tangled sheets was a bit tricky, but the young boy managed. Once he was free from the aftermath of the tickle attack, he started to fix his bed. It wouldn't do to get on his mother's bad side after all. As he did so, he asked his mother.

"Mom, is Dad here? Dad told me he had something to tell me when he'd wake me up today. Don't tell me he forgot…" a small pout graced his cute face. His father was not one to forget, so Mark was a little upset.

"Ah, no…he's not. He had last minute errands to run for your grandparents last night. He left in a rush." A sigh escaped her lips. "He didn't make it back before the storm hit."

Mark took a look at his window, seeing the raging storm outside. "Do you think Dad's gonna be alright, Mom? I mean, the storm is pretty strong." His rather thick eyebrows scrunched up in worry.

"Of course! This is your father we're talking about. He's going to be alright! I mean, he has a good head on his shoulders!" Claire reassured her son with a little more force than necessary. "Though she sometimes forgets to use that noggin of his…and he does have suicidal tendencies…" Claire mumbled the last part softly but Mark was still able to hear it.

'_That's not all that reassuring, Mom…'_ the eight year old thought as an uneasy chuckle escaped his lips.

"Now, hurry up. We don't want the food to get cold. I'll be waiting for you downstairs." Claire ruffled her son's hair before heading for the door.

"'Kay Mom!"

Claire smiled happily as she closed the door to her son's room. She looked around the hallway of the second floor of her home as she made her way downstairs. The once shabby, one-storey house that her grandfather left them was completely different now.

With cream colored walls and a nice wooden floor, the house had a very homey feel to it. Lined on the walls were assorted framed photographs of her and her brother's adventures in Mineral Town. As she walked along the hallway, she spotted a familiar looking framed picture.

"Haha…I remember this one clearly. That was the start of it all…"

Protect by a simple wooden frame, the picture depicted a very strange scene, indeed. There stood an angry-faced Claire with a giant hammer over her head as she tried to hit a short man in a red suit, Mayor Thomas. Next to her, Jack tried to placate his sister to no avail. In the very far corner of the picture, one could make out Zack's shock face.

"Hahaha…what an introduction that was…"

"Hey sis, what's taking you so long? The kid taking his sweet time again? The food's gonna go cold." said a voice from the corner of the hallway. The voice belonged to a handsome brunette. He wore a simple white shirt and jeans.

"Oh, hey bro. Yeah…Mark's getting lazier and lazier every day. I swear you're infecting him with your laziness."

"Ah…that's not nice of you, Claire." he mock glared at his sister. "Hey, what are you looking at?"

"The picture of our meeting with Mayor Thomas."

"Oh…that. I remember that very clearly…"

"Yeah…It was one heck of a day…"

Flashback

_02 Spring XX30, 6:00 am, Nature Farm, Mineral Town_

"_What…the fuck happened here?!" Claire screeched, looking at the mess of a place that was once her grandpa's beautiful Nature Farm._

_Jack let out an impressed whistle. The fields were torn like a war zone, the barns had holes in their roofs and walls, the fences were missing in many places, and was that a half dead dog over there?! Let's not even mention the state of his grandfather's shack… _

"_Whatever storm hit this place must've been the mother of all storms." Jack was pretty calm about everything, hands in his pockets and shoulders relaxed. "This'll be hard to clean up."_

"_Clean up?! CLEAN UP?!" Claire turned to her brother, looking ready to murder someone. "WE NEED A RENOVATION! WHAT WE NEED IS A COMPLETELY NEW FARM! THIS PLACE IS HOPELESS!"_

"_Hey, hey, clam yourself, sis. We can handle this. Gramps taught us well, you know." _

"_HOW CAN YOU BE SO CALM WHEN OUR GRANDPAPA'S FARM IS DECIMATED LIKE THIS?!" Claire started shaking her brother's shoulders. Her hysterics was reaching new heights, Jack thought. "This places was precious to him…didn't anyone in this town care enough to fix it even a little bit…?" she let go of her brother, the rapid transition from hysteria to depression was really starting to worry Jack._

"_H-hey…cheer up, sis! W-we can absolutely do this! For gramps!" _

_The siblings quieted down after that. After a short pause to tend to the half dead Adelbert the dog, they started making plans and budget checks. This restoration would be the hardest endeavor any of them would undertake. But they would do everything for their loving grandfather. This was his legacy after all._

_The calm was temporary, however, and ended abruptly when Mayor Thomas strolled merrily._

"_YOU-!" Claire reached into her pack, pulling out a rather large mining hammer._

"_Wha-!" Mayor Thomas didn't see it coming._

"_Wait!" Poor Jack was trying really hard to stop his sister._

"_Mayor!" Zack was worried for the older man, but he really didn't want to get in the way of the blonde she demon._

_Lost in the chaos, no one noticed the Chinese man taking a picture. _

Flashback End

"Did you really have to attack him with your hammer?" Jack could still remember poor Mayor Thomas' scared face even after all these years.

"He deserved it for doing that to grandpapa's farm." Claire was rather defensive. She pouted, her pout clearly the template of her son's.

"You're so violent. Who did you get if from? I don't remember mom and dad being like you."

"Shut up!" Claire punched Jack's arm. Her small fist was calloused from farm work and mining. She was deceptively strong.

"Your actions contradict your words!" Jack knew that this would lead to bruising for sure.

"Hmph!" Claire turned away rather immaturely, arms crossed over her chest.

The duo remained silent for a while, lost in the memory that the photo brought along. Distantly, they could hear the bathroom's faucet running. It seems Mark was still doing his morning rituals.

"Hey Claire? Why do you think Wong took this photo?"

Even after all these years, the siblings still had no clue.

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**Author's Note:**

Hello, everyone! Welcome to Winter Storm Stories! This'll be my introductory AN, and might be a little long. ANs will be rare after this one, though, since I'm also not really fond of long ANs. Anyway, I wanted to practice and get better at writing before I start writing epics and stuff. I do not have a beta at the moment, but if anyone is free and willing to help, I would gladly appreciate it~

Also, this story is prompt based. The first chapter is more of an introduction so I didn't really have any word prompts for this. For the succeeding chapters, it would be a very big help if the readers would review on a **single word** where I will base the next one shot off of. The oneshots would revolve around Jack and Claire's life in Mineral Town. If no one review, eh, I'll just pick a random word off the dictionary.

As for pairings (since everyone always asks that), I already have Mark and Chelsea's (she is Jack's daughter for this story) parents down, and won't be revealing them until near the end of the story. But, since HM's gameplay practically begs you to pursue all bachelor(ette)s before finally settling down with one in your save file, I am open to all pairing requests. There will be chapters of all pairings possible, as well as your rival's pairings~ I'll also try to make some impossible crack pairs for fun. Ehehehe. This story is all in good fun, so please respect other ships and don't bash them. You guys are free to guess who the final pairings are, but I won't say anything until near the end~

I plan for this story to be at least 20,000 words in length, and to have average chapter size of 1,500-2,000 words. So, let's all have an adventure, yes?


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